Equinix Expands Dallas Infomart Campus

Global interconnection and data center company Equinix has announced the expansion of its Dallas Infomart Data Center campus with the opening of a new $142M International Business Exchange (IBX) data center and the launch of its 5G and Edge Proof of Concept Center (POCC). The moves support the growing demand for companies to accelerate their evolution from traditional to digital businesses by rapidly scaling their infrastructure, easily adopting hybrid multicloud architectures and interconnecting with strategic business partners within the Platform Equinix global ecosystem of nearly 10,000 customers.

The Dallas region is a major communications hub for the southern United States, with a concentration of telecommunications companies. Many of these companies are part of the dense and diverse ecosystem of carriers, clouds and enterprises at Equinix’s Dallas Infomart campus.  This ecosystem makes Equinix Dallas an ideal location for companies seeking to test and validate new 5G and edge innovations. The Equinix 5G and Edge Proof of Concept Center (POCC) will provide a 5G and edge “sandbox” environment, enabling Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), cloud platforms, technology vendors and enterprises to directly connect with the largest edge data center platform in order to test, demonstrate and accelerate complex 5G and edge deployment and interoperability scenarios. The Equinix 5G and Edge POCC aims to:

• Develop 5G and edge architectures that leverage ecosystems already resident at Equinix.
• Explore hybrid multicloud interconnectivty scenarios between MNOs, public clouds and private infrastructures.
• Develop multiparty business models, partnering strategies and go-to-market motions for the nascent 5G and edge market.

Jon Lin, President of Americas, Equinix said, “We are seeing significant customer demand in Dallas as enterprises look to increase their business offerings through implementing IT infrastructures that are able to keep pace with the continually evolving digital landscape. We are thrilled to bring our ninth facility to the Dallas campus online in this increasingly important and growing market.”

The DA11 IBX is the ninth data center for Equinix in the Dallas metro area, and the second building on the growing Dallas Infomart campus. It is a four-story, state-of-the-art data center designed to deliver both small- and large-capacity deployments. The innovative, modular construction incorporates Equinix’s Flexible Data Center (FDC) principles, which leverage common design elements for space, power and cooling to reduce capital cost while ensuring long-term maintenance predictability. For Equinix customers, this approach supports delivery of the highest standards for uptime and availability while lowering operating risk and complexity. It will provide needed capacity for businesses seeking to architect hybrid multicloud infrastructures within a dense ecosystems of customers and partners.

Stefanie Williams, Analyst, 451 Research (part of S&P Global Market Intelligence) said, “Connectivity is becoming increasingly critical for the development of modern hybrid cloud and mobile environments, and Dallas is a key market in enabling companies to accelerate their 5G strategies and overall digital transformation journey. The Dallas multi-tenant data center market remains among the top five in the U.S., and providers have benefitted from strong demand over the years. Dallas will most likely continue to see notable levels of demand, and with the opening of DA11, Equinix is positioning itself to meet demand for connectivity and interconnection to an ecosystem of carriers, network and cloud providers.”

Key Facts

• The $142 million first phase of DA11 provides a capacity of 1,975 cabinets and colocation space of approximately 72,000 square feet. Upon completion of the planned future phases, the facility is expected to provide a total capacity of more than 3,850 cabinets and colocation space of more than 144,000 square feet.
• The Dallas metro represents one of the largest enterprise and colocation markets in the Americas and includes nine Equinix IBX data centers, that house more than 135 network service providers—more than any other data center provider in the Dallas metro area. Directly connected to Equinix’s Infomart Data Center, the fifth-most-dense interconnection hub in the United States, these colocation facilities provide proximity to banking, commerce, telecommunications, computer technology, energy, healthcare and medical research, transportation and logistics companies in the metro area.
• Dallas is a major interconnection point for Latin America traffic with key terrestrial routes serving Central and South America. In combination with our operations in Miami, Los Angeles, Mexico, Bogotá, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Equinix continues to expand solutions for enterprise, cloud and content providers looking to address the Latin America Market. According to the 2019 Global Interconnection Index (GXI) Report published by Equinix, enterprise consumption of interconnection bandwidth is expected to grow by 63 percent CAGR in LATAM by 2022 and will contribute up to 11 percent of interconnection bandwidth globally. In this region, content and digital media is expected to outpace other regions in interconnection bandwidth adoption.
• The Equinix Dallas IBX data centers offer access to Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric (ECX Fabric), an on-demand platform that enables Equinix customers to discover and dynamically connect to any other customer across any Equinix location globally. Offered through an easy-to-use portal and a single connection to the Equinix platform, ECX Fabric offers access to more than 2,100 of the world’s largest enterprises, cloud service providers (including Alibaba Cloud, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, IBM Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud) and SaaS providers (including Salesforce, SAP and ServiceNow, among others). By reaching their entire digital ecosystem through a single private and secure connection, companies can rapidly scale their digital business operations globally. Customers can also locate their data close to the edge of their network, increasing performance by keeping data near consumption points.
• Equinix is a leader in data center sustainability and in greening the supply chains of its customers. Equinix’s long-term goal of using 100% clean and renewable energy for its global platform has resulted in significant increases in renewable energy coverage globally including 100% renewable throughout the United States. Equinix continues to make advancements in the way it designs, builds and operates its data centers with high energy efficiency standards. DA11 customers will benefit from reductions of their CO₂ footprint through Equinix’s renewable energy procurement strategy and the use of energy-efficient systems throughout the facility.
• In the Americas, Equinix now operates more than 90 IBX data centers strategically located in Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Mexico and the United States. Globally, Platform Equinix is comprised of more than 210 IBX data centers across 56 markets and 26 countries, providing data center and interconnection services for more than 9,700 of the world’s leading businesses.